Baseball: Former Pasadena Poly star Rob Rasmussen acquired by Dodgers

The former Pasadena Poly and UCLA standout was acquired by the Dodgers in a trade with the Houston Astros on Wednesday. The Astros received right-hander John Ely.

Rasmussen was driving from his home in Santa Monica to his parents' home in Pasadena when Astros assistant general manager David Stearns called to deliver the news.

"I loved being there," he said of the Astros organization, "but it's hard to contain your excitement when you get traded to the only team you ever wanted to play for."

The 23-year-old left-hander was chosen in the 27th round of the 2007 draft by the Dodgers but chose to attend UCLA instead. Rasmussen said there was little choice in his mind - he already told major-league teams he intended to go to college - but he said Dodgers scout Chuck Crim "thought I deserved to have my name called."

Crim is now the Dodgers' bullpen coach.

Rasmussen said he attended "tons" of Dodgers games growing up in Arcadia. Why not jump at the chance to play for his dream team out of high school?

"I went to a very small, academically focused high school, Pasadena Poly," he said, "and I always wanted to go to college. I never thought about playing pro baseball at that point in time.

"To be honest I don't know if I was ready for the minor-league lifestyle at that point in time."

Rasmussen went 38-2 with a 1.04 ERA over four varsity seasons at Pasadena Poly with 492 strikeouts and allowing just 37 earned runs in 248 2/3 innings.

As a junior with UCLA, Rasmussen joined the starting rotation and led the Bruins to the finals of the College World Series for the first time in the program's history. He was drafted in the second round by the Florida Marlins that year.

Rasmussen finished the season 11-3 with a 2.72 ERA and threw six scoreless innings in UCLA's final game of the College World Series, a 2-1 loss to South Carolina.

In 2<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 years in the Marlins' organization, Rasmussen split his time between low-A Greensboro and high-A Jupiter. He was one of two prospects traded from the Marlins to the Astros on July 4 in the trade that sent Carlos Lee to Miami.

Houston assigned Rasmussen to Double-A Corpus Christi, where he went 4-4 with a 4.80 ERA and raised his strikeout-to-walk ratio to a career-best 2.44.

Rasmussen doesn't count toward the Dodgers' 40-man roster, leaving them with an open roster spot.

Ely, 26, made two major-league appearances in 2012 and lost both. He ended the season with a 20.25 ERA after allowing six earned runs in 2<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 innings. Prior to that, Ely excelled in Triple-A, where he won the Pacific Coast League's triple crown (14-7, 3.20 ERA, 165 strikeouts) and earmed the league's Pitcher of the Year award.

Ely made 18 starts in 2010 and won three of his first four decisions, but he finished 4-10 with a 5.49 ERA. He made five major-league appearances in 2011 (one start) and was 0-1 with a 4.26 ERA.